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THE BOTTOM LINE — BUYING TIME? President Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday night further raised hopes that he is prepared to take action on climate change — but probably not right away. Instead, the president put most of the onus on an all-but-paralyzed Congress, with the threat that if lawmakers don’t act, Obama will order agencies across his administration to come up with ways to address global warming “for the sake of our children and our future.”

Obama offered no details on those potential actions and didn’t even mention the EPA, whose regulations on power plants and other greenhouse gas sources will almost surely be at the forefront of his climate agenda. Still, it was a strong enough call to action to appease most climate advocates, even those who had said in the days leading up to the speech that they wanted Obama to lay out a detailed plan of attack. Darren Goode has an inside look: http://politi.co/12dYgWX

WHAT OBAMA SAID: Obama used his State of the Union address to call on lawmakers to pass “bipartisan, market-based” climate change legislation, similar to a cap-and-trade bill that drew some bipartisan support about a decade ago. While few people expect the current Congress to pass any such bill, the president’s words would put the onus for failure on Capitol Hill. Andrew Restuccia and Darius Dixon have the story: http://politi.co/Wk1J0S

AN OFFER THEY CAN REFUSE: Republicans quickly tossed cold water Tuesday night on President Barack Obama’s call for Congress to pass climate change legislation. “I don’t think that is realistic,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told POLITICO after the president’s State of the Union address, in which Obama urged Congress to “pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change.” Andrew again: http://politico.pro/YW59Y4

THE BUZZWORDS LESS SPOKEN: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) made sure to namedrop Solyndra during his post-SOTU rebuttal. “Instead of wasting more taxpayer money on so-called ‘clean energy’ companies like Solyndra, let’s open up more federal lands for safe and responsible exploration,” the potential 2016 contender said. The Senate GOP’s messaging office, meanwhile, went after the president for not mentioning the Keystone XL pipeline last night. “Despite strong support from unions and members of his own party, President Obama continues to stonewall the Keystone pipeline,” wrote in an email blast: http://politico.pro/VTvP9o

ME FIRST — C2ES PUTS OUT POLICY GUIDE: The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions will release a policy guide today outlining what the administration and Congress can do on climate change and energy. The administration's checklist includes finalizing emissions regulations for new and existing power plants, more movement on fuel economy standards, work on cutting climate "forcers" like methane and set new energy efficiency standards. Congress’s list includes increasing support for R&D at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and elsewhere, extending the wind production tax credit and establishing a climate agency similar to the National Weather Service. The guide: http://politico.pro/Y7Rb2s

SIERRA CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE SET FOR WEDNESDAY: The Sierra Club and 350.org will engage in an invitation-only act of civil disobedience against the development of oil sands and the Keystone XL pipeline on Wednesday at the White House at 11 a.m., organizers tell ME. Roughly 50 people — including Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, 350.org founder Bill McKibben, Green for All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lampkin and former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond are expected to participate in the action as well. The one-time event is the first time Sierra Club is officially sanctioning the use of civil disobedience in its 120-year-old history.

EDF LAUNCHES AD CAMPAIGN BACKING OBAMA: The Environmental Defense Fund is launching a TV ad campaign today supporting Obama's climate change strategies. The 15-second spots — which depict storm water rushing through a neighborhood and a crying baby wearing a respirator — will air over the next two weeks in North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Ohio, Maine and Iowa, as well as Washington, D.C. EDF wouldn’t tell ME how much the group is spending on the ad buy. Watch: http://youtu.be/lBXsb_JUFoc

** A message from America's Natural Gas Alliance: When used to generate electricity, natural gas burns cleaner than other fuel sources, with less pollutants and no mercury. Learn more about this abundant, American resource: http://bit.ly/d652Uo **

EVERY REACTION TO THE SPEECH YOU EVER WANTED TO READ ABOUT BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK: ME would have included every reaction that landed in our inbox, but this newsletter has to actually get filed at some point. Here’s a cross-section:

Sen. Chris Coons: “I think it was important that he made a clear call to action around climate change,” the Delaware Democrat told Darius. “I serve on the energy committee. An area that can and should be bipartisan is energy efficiency. His challenge for us to make dramatic improvements in the energy efficiency of our buildings is something [that] there’s already real progress in that direction in the Shaheen-Portman-Coons bill, which I’m hopeful could actually enjoy some support in both chambers.”

NRDC President Frances Beinecke, writing in POLITICO: “The president has got this exactly right. This is no time for hesitation and half-hearted measures. This is a leadership issue for him — and it’s a leadership moment for the nation.” http://politi.co/V6YrBo

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton — like many Republicans — said he had hoped to hear about the Keystone XL pipeline. “With a stroke of the pen, the president could unleash this $7 billion private sector investment. Yet nowhere in this evening’s blueprint for the president’s policy vision was this critical middle class jobs project.”

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden says lawmakers need to get it in gear. “Only Congress has sufficient tools to address the global nature of the problem and pursue a solution that will reduce domestic emissions while also keeping us competitive in the world market. I will continue to work to pass laws to address climate change by increasing clean energy use and reducing America’s carbon footprint.”

Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford: “It is encouraging to hear President Obama highlight the urgent need to address climate change, but unless the president uses his authority to put the brakes on new fossil fuel projects like Arctic drilling, Keystone XL and exporting America's coal abroad, his efforts to move us to clean energy will remain one step forward, two steps back.”

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito: “He said it himself: If Congress doesn’t act on climate legislation, he will. He expressly said that he would pick winners and losers in the energy economy, and we all know coal will be in the losing column.”

Institute for Energy Research President Thomas Pyle: “For this administration, a deadly hurricane means a chance for carbon taxes. A crop-killing heat wave means another opportunity to attack the coal industry. Virtually any nightly weather report can be exploited to justify the empowerment of Washington regulators and more hurdles for affordable energy.”

American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard: “President Obama must follow through by implementing a national energy policy, lifting existing restrictions in support of responsible development of our vast energy resources, approving the Keystone XL pipeline and standing up against unnecessary and burdensome regulations that chill economic growth.”

Solar Energy Industries Association President and CEO Rhone Resch: “We are especially encouraged by the president’s commitment to securing America’s place as a leader in clean energy innovation throughout the world. President Obama understands that the stakes are high and we must not fall behind other nations as the world shifts to emissions-free clean energy technologies like solar.”

11 a.m. — The NRDC and Environment America release a poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, on reaction to climate change and clean energy initiatives included in the State of the Union.

ALSO IN SOTU: CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE CYBERSECURITY: Obama also touched on cybersecurity, using last night’s speech to roll out an executive order meant to safeguard the nation's power plants, water systems and other forms of critical infrastructure against crippling cyberattacks. Tony Romm has the story: http://politi.co/WjYIO9

BOXER HOLDS CLIMATE SCIENCE BRIEFING: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a briefing on the latest climate science today with four climate researchers: Donald Wuebbles of the University of Illinois, American Meteorological Society President J. Marshall Shepherd, John Balbus on the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and James McCarthy of Harvard University. http://1.usa.gov/XyLOta. 10 a.m. in Dirksen 406

WYDEN, MURKOWSKI TALK NAT GAS: In case you didn’t get enough natural gas talk at yesterday’s ENR hearing, Chairman Ron Wyden and ranking member Lisa Murkowski will speak at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event this morning on natural gas. 10 a.m., 1800 K St. NW. Details: http://bit.ly/XXyVc0

EPA IG LOOKING INTO RANGE RESOURCES CASE: The EPA inspector general’s office began an investigation last summer into how the agency’s Dallas-based Region 6 handled a water contamination case involving the oil and gas company Range Resources, according to a memo the office released Tuesday. Talia Buford has the story: http://politico.pro/WHCirN

ENERGY PACs HAVE BUSY JANUARY: Not all political action committees are hunkering down just because it’s an off-election year. Here’s a roundup just from reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

Duke Energy PAC sent out over $121,000 last month. Included: $15,000 each to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee; contributions to the PACs of the Edison Electric Institute and the Nuclear Energy Institute; $1,000 each to the North Carolina Republican House and Senate caucuses; and checks to Sens. Ron Wyden and Barbara Mikulski, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Reps. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s PAC reports sending more than $75,000 to candidates and committees in January — including $15,000 contributions each to the DCCC, DSCC, NRSC and NRCC. The PAC also sent January contributions to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and other House members of both parties.

The utility company Dominion’s PAC contributed over $55,000 in January, including $15,000 to the NRSC, $5,000 to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), $2,500 each to Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and $1,000 each to Reps. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.).

PMAA REGS CHIEF LEAVES FOR XENOPHON: Brandon Wright has left his position running regulatory affairs and communications for the Petroleum Marketers Association of America to join PR and government affairs firm Xenophon Strategies, PMAA President Dan Gilligan tells ME. PMAA has divvied up Wright’s duties for the time being and is “doing some new strategic planning and may look to add positions when that is complete,” Gilligan said.

QUICK HITS

— Some of A123's creditors want to know whether Johnson Controls led a "secret" lobbying campaign to derail Wanxiang's purchase of the battery-maker. Washington Times: http://bit.ly/XJjoyC

** A message from America's Natural Gas Alliance: We believe in a clean energy future. Natural gas is a cleaner energy choice and a key partner to solar and wind technologies. From California to Florida, natural gas facilities are working with renewable energy to ensure steady, affordable and cleaner energy choices for communities across our nation. Because it is an abundant and affordable energy source available right here in America, natural gas can help make the promise of cleaner energy a reality in more American communities. Natural gas is smarter power today. Visit anga.us to learn more. **